With Carla - Orchestre National De Jazz - Audio CD (Arrives in 50 days)

Engaging with the music of Carla Bley is never a trivial matter – especially for an institution like the Orchestre National de Jazz – because, throughout her life, this artist took a stand against academicism and conformism, whether in her musical output, the trajectory of her career, or her public image. For our renowned ensemble, engaging with her scores is like administering an antidote, along with a good dose of vitamins. Whimsical, atypical, masterful, often funny, sometimes irreverent, and profound, Carla Bley's work also inspires a transcendence of opposites. Not hermetic, never vulgar, it nonetheless developed its own noble rot (necessary for some of the finest wines) by embracing both classical and so-called 'popular' music, and as a result, it continues to captivate a wide audience. In celebrating this immense artist who passed away in 2023, Sylvaine Hélary's ONJ (Orchestre National de Jazz) takes up this torch and carries it high because it respects both the letter and the spirit of Carla Bley. Instead of judicious rewritings, Rémi Sciuto's arrangements and echoing compositions are indeed extensions. The tracks presented here are thus akin to augmentations where a dual presence of the composer is manifested. That of the past, first, through the textual summoning of her compositions, for the pure pleasure of (re)hearing them as much as to salute the importance of an artistic creation that transcends the boundaries of the jazz field. The Carla Bley of the present, second, whose music carries within it a provocative relevance;; “Provocative” in the sense of “triggering,” of a spark that ignited the powder in Rémi Sciuto’s imagination, further solidifying his signature jazz sound;; but “provocative” also as an incitement to action, a challenge to surpass or even transgress established norms, which is by no means superficial. Indeed, as Leonard B. Meyer demonstrated in his work Emotion and Meaning in Music, emotion in music arises from thwarted, rejected, and displaced expectations. It is by disrupting the usual expectations associated with a style or genre—in other words, an art of musical enigma—that emotion emerges, precisely because the listener is able to gauge the distance between the norm and the exceptional. This album also marks the ONJ’s 40th anniversary as an exceptional ensemble.

Label: L'autre | Origin: Holland